California eyes its own National Institutes of Health as science funding faces deep federal cuts

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — UCLA is among many California universities reeling from extraordinary cuts to scientific funding, but what if our state had its own version of the National Institutes of Health?

“California’s economy is massive,” said Dr. Otto Yang, an cellular immunology researcher with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

California recently became the fourth largest economy in the world, surpassing Japan and Germany. Driving the success is research and innovation.

“For every dollar spent to support research funding, about two-and-a- half dollars is returned to the economy,” said Yang, who said scientific study pays for itself.

Last year, United For Medical Research, a coalition of research institutes, says $5.1 billion awarded to California universities and hospitals generated $13.8 billion in jobs, services and scientific discovery.

“There’s a production of intellectual property that can turn into drugs or treatments, and so the returns are pretty huge,” said Yang.

However, in March, the Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk – also known as DOGE – reported it slashed $109 million in grants just to UCLA. Many more programs across the state remain in limbo.

“If the federal government is going to pull back from scientific leadership and research, California should step up even more and lead the world,” said California Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).

He introduced a bill that would help fill the funding gaps. The proposed California Institute for Scientific Research would cover biomedicine, climate change, drug safety and vaccines.

“Our government should be funding scientific research,” he said. “It’s not happening at the federal level. We should look at how we do that at the state level.”

How the state will underwrite such an agency remains a work in progress as California grapples with proposed cuts and shortfalls.

“Well, this isn’t raising taxes,” said Wiener. “Obviously, we’re in a bad budget year, and so we know that this is going to be complicated, but my goal is to at least get us to commit that this is a good idea and we should pursue it.”

If the details can be worked out, and the plan is well received, the bill could go to Gov. Gavin Newsom in September.